Detention (2011)

As a killer named Cinderhella stalks the student body at the high school in Grizzly Lake, a group of co-eds band together to survive while they're all serving detention.

Director:

Joseph Kahn

Writers:

Joseph Kahn, Mark Palermo

Stars:

Shanley Caswell, Josh Hutcherson, Spencer Locke

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alison Woods	...	Taylor Fisher
Logan Stalarow	...	Taylor's Little Brother
Julie Dolan	...	Taylor's Mom
Shanley Caswell	...	Riley Jones
Daniel Negreanu	...	Male News Reporter
Will Wallace	...	Riley's Dad / Doug Jones
Josh Breeding	...	Hipster Thief
Marco Garcia	...	Janitor
Josh Hutcherson	...	Clapton Davis
Mickey River	...	Punk (as Mickey Jury)
Jesse Heiman	...	Nerd
Joseph Keane	...	Metro (as Joe Keane)
Percy Daggs III	...	Jock Kid (as Percy Daggs)
Parker Bagley	...	Billy Nolan
Marque Richardson	...	Toby T. (as Marque Richardson II)

Storyline

This comedy/horror movie is about a group of teens who go to Grizzly Lake High School. When one of their class mates is killed by someone dressed up as 'Cinderhella' (a character from a popular horror movie) they are all under suspicion. But when they all get detention, they try to work out who it is.

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Plot Keywords:

high school | detention | high school student | 1990s | male male kiss | 

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Taglines:

Cancel Your Future

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence, crude and sexual content, nudity, language, some teen drinking and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 April 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Castigo Sangriento

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Detention Films (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Clapton Davis: Mullet beats pony-tails.

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Connections

References Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

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Soundtracks

"As Long as You Love Me"
Performed by Backstreet Boys
Written by Max Martin

User Reviews

Detention is outrageous, pop-culture heavy, exhaustively self-aware and also lots of fun

This has got to be one of the most absurd films I've seen in a long while, and I really liked it because of that. It's so meta and pop- culture laden at times it feels like a sugar-high that's worn on too long, but the sheer amount of different directions it goes in and the insanity of it all I found really refreshing.

Most self-aware movies I've seen seem to emphasise and reflect on pop- culture conventions as a way of grounding the story - acknowledging the unbelievable as a way of adding believability. Detention is the exact opposite. It goes so out of it's way to not portray real life, it verges on the surreal. I'm sure a lot of people will really dislike that about it, but I found it really entertaining.

There are a lot of issues with it, though. It's directed in such a way that everything seems unnaturally theatrical, which works in some scenes but I couldn't tell if it was deliberate or not. This overtone affects the whole movie, especially the dialogue. Sometimes the characters' lines are effective, but they're so rapid-fire and pop-culture heavy they often feel stilted. I also think the style emulates Scott Pilgrim too heavily. I'm not sure if it was deliberate or not, but stuff like the kinetic typography, cinematography and ADD pacing seem far to similar to be a coincidence. It worked in SP because it was a faithful adaptation of the graphic novels; here it often feels out of place.

Still, I definitely enjoyed it. It challenged my expectations, and ran just the right side of parody for me to suspend my disbelief. I'd say it's worth watching if you didn't find my description of it off-putting.